Apparently Yahoo! and Facebook are entering into some discussions on a ‘search’ partnership. While none of this has actually been substantiated from anyone at either company it would stand to benefit Yahoo! much more than it would Facebook.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg are discussing a potential partnership.

Is this just a rumor that Yahoo hopes will become truth? Is this one of those publicity stunts that is meant to be a boost to the popularity of both entities and possibly give them some sort of big boost of popularity from the rumor mill? Stranger things have been known to happen. Facebook is currently denying that these talks are happening, but the rumors are still flying. Who stands to gain more here? Who is to be trusted or to be believed?

Personally, I think that the rumor would be pretty far-stretching. Facebook and Yahoo are no strangers to face-offs against each other in court. The bad blood is most likely still there. Also, Facebook is already partnered with Bing as a search partner. There’s no need for them to go fishing around for an alternative when Bing is trading at higher market share value and on an upward swing, while Yahoo has been a sinking ship for quite a while now. Some people are shocked that Yahoo is still plugging along at all, having steadily declined in popularity over the recent years.

In all reality, Yahoo has absolutely nothing to offer Facebook. Bing and Facebook have and believe in excellent programmers. This is something that Yahoo is known for lacking. Until Yahoo makes some changes in their philosophies in that department, they are not going to be winning anyone over at Facebook or anywhere for that matter. Bing uses the latest in algorithms, as do other giants like Google and oh yeah … FACEBOOK. Yahoo has a lot of baggage as a company and I just don’t see Mark Zuckerberg or anyone else over at Facebook having the desire to help them unpack. Bing is a much better partner and we can expect things to stay steady in that relationship.

Facebook has shown that it is a progressive and forward thinking company. Entertaining the thought of a Yahoo partnership would be a step backwards.